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Special Issue Editor

Dr. Abdul Latif Khan

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Guest Editor

Department of Engineering Technology College of Technology, University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA
Interests: plant physiology; plant–microbe interactions; abiotic stress signaling

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The increasing human population and abrupt changes in the global climate have imposed significant threats to plant production, global food security, and sustainability. Due to changes in global climate or anthropogenic activities, salinity is deserting a large proportion of arable soil each year. Although halophytes are naturally resistant to soil salinity stress, glycophytes are immensely sensitive. Salinity stress influences plant life from seed germination to final fruit or seed production by influencing photosynthesis, cell division, and ionic balance. Plants exposed to salinity have to devote precious developmental energies to counteract oxidative, ionic, and osmotic stresses by implementing signaling cascades of enzyme synthesis, phytohormonal signaling and crosstalk, gene expression patterns, and metabolite exudations. Salinity stress perception and tolerance are variable across different crops and instances. Despite an unprecedented amount of scientific work on salinity stress in plants, there is still a lot to be understood at the biochemical, molecular, and cellular signaling levels. In the current issue, we will try to understand and answer critical questions about how ionic homeostasis is translocated by plant cells, genetic determinants, and proteins, how to rearrange the microbiome associated with stressed plants to achieve enhanced plant stress tolerance, how complex interactions can be explained and understood by utilizing advanced multi-omics approaches (genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics) to map signaling pathways, and how keystone microbial players associated with plants can improve plant stress tolerance.

Dr. Abdul Latif Khan
Guest Editor

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Keywords

salinity
stress tolerance
molecular mechanisms
oxidative stress
ionic transport
next-generation sequencing
plant phenotyping
transcriptomics
gene regulatory networks

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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16 pages, 4974 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Assessment of the Impact of the Application of a Quercetin—Copper Complex on the Course of Physiological and Biochemical Processes in Wheat Plants (Triticum aestivum L.) Growing under Saline Conditions

by Marta Jańczak-Pieniążek, Dagmara Migut, Tomasz Piechowiak and Maciej Balawejder

Cells 2022, 11(7), 1141; https://doi.org/10.3390/cells11071141 - 28 Mar 2022

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1969

Abstract

Salt stress is one of the main stressors limiting plant growth and yield. As a result of salt stress, unfavorable changes in the photosynthesis process take place, leading to a decrease in plant productivity. Therefore, it is necessary to use biologically active substances that reduce the effects of this stress. An example of such a substance is quercetin, classified as a flavonoid, which plays an important role in alleviating the effects of salt stress, mainly by the inactivation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and by improvement of the photosynthesis process. A study was made of the effect of the quercetin–copper complex (Q-Cu (II)), which has a stronger antioxidant effect than pure quercetin. By means of a pot experiment, the influence of solutions of the Q-Cu (II) complex (100 mg∙L⁻¹ [Q1], 500 mg∙L⁻¹ [Q2] and 1000 mg∙L⁻¹ [Q3]) on the physiological and biochemical processes occurring in wheat plants subjected to salt stress was investigated. The plants were given two sprays of Q-Cu (II) solution, and their physiological parameters were examined both 1 and 7 days after each application of this solution. The level of ROS and the activity of antioxidant enzymes (catalase [CAT], superoxide dismutase [SOD] and guaiacol peroxidase [GPOX]) were also determined. It has been shown that spraying with Q2 and Q3 solutions improves the chlorophyll content, the values of chlorophyll fluorescence parameters (the photochemical efficiency of PS II [F_v/F_m], the maximum quantum yield of primary photochemistry [F_v/F₀], and the performance index of PS II [PI]), and gas exchange (net photosynthetic rate [P_n], stomatal conductance [g_s], transpiration rate [E] and intercellular CO₂ concentration [C_i]). As a result of the application of Q2 and Q3 solutions, the level of ROS and the activity of the antioxidant enzymes tested decreased, which means that these concentrations are most effective in counteracting the effects of salt stress. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Salinity Stress Signaling in Plants: OMICs Perspective)

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Review

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17 pages, 1042 KiB

Open AccessReview

Endophyte-Mediated Stress Tolerance in Plants: A Sustainable Strategy to Enhance Resilience and Assist Crop Improvement

by Muhammad Kamran, Qari Muhammad Imran, Muhammad Bilal Ahmed, Noreen Falak, Amna Khatoon and Byung-Wook Yun

Cells 2022, 11(20), 3292; https://doi.org/10.3390/cells11203292 - 19 Oct 2022

Cited by 20 | Viewed by 3347

Abstract

Biotic and abiotic stresses severely affect agriculture by affecting crop productivity, soil fertility, and health. These stresses may have significant financial repercussions, necessitating a practical, cost-effective, and ecologically friendly approach to lessen their negative impacts on plants. Several agrochemicals, such as fertilizers, pesticides, and insecticides, are used to improve plant health and protection; however, these chemical supplements have serious implications for human health. Plants being sessile cannot move or escape to avoid stress. Therefore, they have evolved to develop highly beneficial interactions with endophytes. The targeted use of beneficial plant endophytes and their role in combating biotic and abiotic stresses are gaining attention. Therefore, it is important to experimentally validate these interactions and determine how they affect plant fitness. This review highlights research that sheds light on how endophytes help plants tolerate biotic and abiotic stresses through plant–symbiont and plant–microbiota interactions. There is a great need to focus research efforts on this vital area to achieve a system-level understanding of plant–microbe interactions that occur naturally. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Salinity Stress Signaling in Plants: OMICs Perspective)

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